Monday, July 12, 2010

VII-DISTRICT REASI

7.1 Reasi is one of the oldest towns of the State. It was the seat of the erstwhile Bhimgarh State, said to have been established by Bhim Dev somewhere in 8th century. It remained an independent principality till 1822, when Gulab Singh the then King of Jammu consolidated small states. Up-till 1948 Reasi was a District of Jammu Province, but in the first administrative reorganization of the State undertaken in 1948 major part of the then District Reasi was merged with District Udhampur, while some areas became part of District Poonch (now Rajouri).

7.2 At present Reasi is a Sub-Division of District Udhampur and is located at a distance of 64 Kms from Jammu. The Sub-Division comprises only one Tehsil i.e. Reasi which is bounded by Tehsil Gool-Gulabgarh in the north, Tehsil Sunderbani and Kalakote of District Rajouri in the west, Tehsil Udhampur in the east, Tehsils Jammu and Akhnoor of District Jammu on the south. The Sub-Division has a population of 1, 20,380 as per 2001 census. Climatically a major part of this Sub-Division falls in sub-tropical zone and the rest in temperate zone .Summers are generally warm and winters cold with snowfall on the high ridges.

7.3 An historical fort named as ‘Bhimgarh Fort’, but generally also known as ‘Reasi Fort’ is located in the town of Reasi on a hillock approximately 150 meters high. As per local lore initially the fort was made of clay which later on was reconstructed with stone masonary and was generally used by the royal family for taking shelter during emergencies. Presently the fort is in the charge of the Department of Archeology J&K Government since 1989. Today the fort stands out as one of the important land marks in the town.

7.4 Being far away from Jammu–Udhampur–Srinagar Highway 1-A and somewhat inaccessible due to the hilly area, economic progress in the mostly hilly region of Reasi has been rather slow. With the commissioning of Salal Hydro-Electric project at Dhyangarh near Reasi town, the economic activity of the area has picked up considerably. Construction work of this project was started in 1970 by the National Hydro-Electric Power Corporation and the project was commissioned in 1987 when the first stage of 345MW power station was completed and balance/second stage of the project with 345MW was commissioned in 1995 making the total generation to 690 MW.

Power from this project flows to the Northern Grid from where it is distributed to the states of J&K, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Chandigarh.

7.5 The Jammu–Srinagar–Baramulla Railway line which is under construction will pass through Reasi. The Railway line upto Katra is likely to be commissioned during 2007. From Katra the Railway line will traverse to Reasi-Banihal area with stations at Reasi, Salal A–Salal B, Surukot, Barala, Sangaldan, Kohli and Laole. The 1315 meters long Railway Bridge will be constructed over river Chenab near Salal with a height of 383.10 meters from the river surface and shall be the highest bridge in the world. This railway line will bring Reasi on the rail map of the country and accelerate development and prosperity in the area.

7.6 The people of this hilly area have been clamouring for restoration of the District status for Reasi, and even in the Wazir Commission report among other recommendations, it was proposed to upgrade the Sub-Division to District level.

7.7 While creating certain new administrative units in the State, vide the Cabinet decision referred to in Chapter I, Reasi has been upgraded to the status of a District and the Committee has been asked to demarcate its geographical boundaries.

7.8 With a view to ascertain views of the public of the area as also the senior officers of the District administration, the Committee had meetings at Udhampur, Reasi,Pouni, Katra and other places enroute. During its visits to these places the Committee received various oral and written representations/memoranda. After examining all these representations/ memoranda the main issues projected at various places are summarized as under:-

i. That villages falling on the periphery of District Rajouri and situated adjoining the existing limits of Reasi Sub-Division be attached with Pouni, so as to make Pouni as a central location and that Niabat be upgraded to Tehsil. This demand was however contested by a group of public from Sunderbani Tehsil with an argument that instead of merging theses areas with District Reasi there is need to create another District comprising Tehsils Sunderbani, Kalakote and Nowshera with its

headquarter at Siot.

ii. That certain villages of Tehsil Akhnoor (District Jammu) which are

situated adjoining Sunderbani be attached with Tehsil Sunderbani, as

presently they have to travel a distance of around fifty kms to reach the

Tehsil headquarter at Akhnoor, and a distance of around eighty kms to

reach the District headquarter i.e. Jammu, whereas they have to travel a

distance of a few kms only to reach Sunderbani.

iii. That villages around Triyath of Tehsil Kalakote be attached with Niabat

Pouni as the villages have easier/shorter road communication link with

Pouni as compared to Kalakote their present Tehsil Headquarter.

iv. That Niabat Katra be up-graded to Tehsil as well as Sub-Division level,

as Katra being a base camp for pilgrims to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi

Shrine who come from all parts of country, even from outside the

country, avaibility of a senior officer of the rank of Sub-Divisional

Magistrate is very important with a view to co-ordinate activities of all

heads of other administrative units located at Katra.

v. That the territorial limit of Niabat/ Tehsil Katra be extended upto Jhajjar

Nala as these villages have easy access to Katra besides the fact that a

large number of people residing in these villages daily visit Katra town

in connection with earning their livelihood, business activities and other

day to day affairs. However, it may be in place to mention here that a

section of people belonging to these villages also projected a demand

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that these villages should continue to be part of Tehsil and District

Udhampur as in attaching these villages with Katra journey to District

Headquarter i.e. Reasi would become longer than Udhampur.

vi. That a new Tehsil be created comprising villages of Bhomag area, as this

hilly area situated along the west flank of Kanthgali and extending in the

north right upto the Chenab river, according to the representees, has

remained ignored in the matter of developmental activities and for which

reasons the creation of a new Tehsil ‘Bhomag’ was also proposed by the

Wazir Commission.

7.9 The Committee has examined these demands in depth and had also

interaction with elected representatives of the area as well as senior officers of District

administration and is of the opinion as under:-

i. That status-quo be maintained in respect of reorganization of boundaries

of Tehsil Kalakote, Sunderbani and Akhnoor.

ii. As regards Katra, a communication was received from the Secretary to

Government Revenue Department whereby a zerox copy of minutes of

the Cabinet cum District Development Board meeting of District

Udhampur held on 24th May, 2006 was forwarded for “examination and

necessary action”. On receipt of the said communication a clarification

was sought whether the Committee was required to identify/demarcate

boundaries in respect of Tehsil Katra or only a report was required to be

sent after examing the demand, however, advice from the Revenue

Department is awaited. Therefore, the Committee deems it appropriate to

recommend that till such time Niabat Katra is up-graded to the status of

Tehsil, the boundaries of Tehsil Reasi adjoining Tehsil Udhampur may

not be disturbed, although the Committee has a strong feeling that as and

when Katra is decided to be up-graded to Tehsil there is need to extend

its boundaries towards Udhampur side. Further observations of the

Committee in this regard are available in Chapter XX of this report.

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iii. Although it is a fact that Wazir Commission has recommended Tehsil

status for Bhomag area, but for the reasons that recommendations for

creation of new Tehsils is not within the ambit of the terms of reference

of this Committee, it has been felt appropriate not to offer any comments

in the matter.

7.10 As indicated at sub-para (iii) of para 6.4 of Chapter VI Niabat Gool of

Tehsil Gool-Gulabgarh comprising eighteen villages has been proposed to be made part

of Tehsil and new District Ramban. As such, the eighteen villages shall get deleted from

the jurisdiction of Tehsil Gool Gulabgarh.

7.11 Based on the above position it is recommended that new District Reasi

should comprise two Tehsils namely Reasi with eighteen Patwar Halqas, one hundred

and seventy nine villages, and Gool-Gulabgarh (less by villages forming part of Niabat